Top-down, Kinect-enabled Burnout Crash smashing XBLA, PSN this fall

In a drastic departure for the series, the next Burnout game will be a …

Criterion Games' follow-up to the open world Burnout Paradise, Burnout Crash—or CRASH!, as it prefers to be called—is a downloadable game described by the developer as "a crazy mix of pinball and game shows."

The top-down arcade-style game appears to be all about destruction. You'll earn points for crashing into cars, making things blow up, and just generally causing as much chaos as possible. "We’ve evolved the core gameplay which everyone loved about Crash Mode," said creative director Richard Franke.

Burnout Crash

The game will also make use of Autolog—the much-touted social feature that debuted in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, also developed by Criterion—in order to track high scores and provide other social networking features. The game also introduces Autolog challenges, for competitive multiplayer play.

Crash is coming to both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, but 360 owners who happen to have Kinect will also be treated to an extra mode: a local multiplayer mode where players use gesture controls in some sort of team-based party game. Based on the footage above, it looks like the Kinect mode will have gamers pretending to turn an invisible steering wheel in order to drive their vehicles.

I agree. Crash mode was sweet because the impacts were depicted so well in the 3D behind-the-car view - it had an intense feeling you don't get from this particular overhead view. The game play footage this video shows is also pretty bad in that it just focuses on one "crash" for far too long.

I think this game had some good hype for it just with Criterion's name (and, well, Burnout's brand!), but seeing the game in action does not seem to spark the same excitement other Burnout titles do - at least for me.

No need to force the player to skillfully navigate through a complex puzzle of mayhem to get into an optimal position, picking up bonus points and powerups on the way, and then create a massive, physics-based crash. Why bother to design an interesting crash course full of dense traffic when you can just make the car bounce and throw it into a generic intersection? Don't forget the incredibly grating sound effects!

At least they were still trying in Burnout Revenge, even if I preferred Burnout 3's crash mode. Crash mode was a complete afterthought in Paradise. When I heard they were making a Crash-specific game I was excited. It seems like a good way to keep the Burnout crash mode alive, if the main game focus had shifted towards open-world racing and stunt driving. (and Paradise was so good, I had a hard time begrudging them that) The XBLA + 2D nature of the game suggested it would lack the awesome crash physics and visual flair of past Burnout crash games, but you could still do a heck of a lot if you put some effort into designing the levels.

This looks like someone thought they'd try to hammer out a cheap DLC game to appeal to the existing Burnout fan base, but didn't have anyone who'd actually played and liked crash mode in the past involved in the design.

yeah... this game looks really bad. I mean, from the video, it looks like the car drives up to an intersection and then stays there while shit smashes into it. I don't even think I would download this if it was free.

Ok, as a huge fan of the Burnout series I am left puzzled by Crash! This looks like the sort of simple flash game you might see on a smart phone, not the kind of high-quality, high-adrenaline title the series is know for. You would think that Criterion would find a much better way to leverage Kinect. I still play a heck-of-a-lot-of Takedown, Revenge and Paradise. Each of these games has something unique in them that keeps me coming back but the main thing that I like is the perception of speed and the visceral feeling of slamming into opponents and turning them into twisted balls of charred ash. Criterion needs to spend more time on a real follow up to Paradise!

Yeesh. I almost ripped my pants when I saw the words "Burnout", "top-down", and "crash', picturing a crazy top-down racer with focus on destruction. I looked down and my credit card was already in my hand. Then I watched the video... I think a game that was really just a video of a fish flopping around on the ground while you watch and have no control would be more interesting. It took me till the end of the video to even figure out which was the player's car, since they all just sat there and blew up every once in awhile. They need to redact their usage of "evolved".

Would be cool if it was for iOS. But I'm not shelling out $5-15 for this on PSN. Crash was great in Paradise because, like the other commenters said, the view from behind the car made it immersive. This top-down look has no appeal to me. I loved GTA2 and would definitely get behind that style. Crash only? Pass.

Would be cool if it was for iOS. But I'm not shelling out $5-15 for this on PSN. Crash was great in Paradise because, like the other commenters said, the view from behind the car made it immersive. This top-down look has no appeal to me. I loved GTA2 and would definitely get behind that style. Crash only? Pass.

this game is meant for those that liked the crash segments of Burnout. me personally, those were the least interesting to me. but the addition of including damage to the environment is somewhat interesting.

as for the kinect controls, that's not how it works.

from the IGN preview:

On Xbox 360, Kinect comes into play to control the simplicity. Each level starts by mimicking driving until you hit the first crash, then you jump to explode, and lean to control the car's aerial movement.

This looks like the sort of simple flash game you might see on a smart phone

Yeah, it really does. Or a free flash game from several years ago. Or maybe something you'd put on a website promoting a real XBLA or retail release, as a free minigame to draw people to your website.

Quote:

this game is meant for those that liked the crash segments of Burnout. me personally, those were the least interesting to me.

As someone who liked the crash segments of Burnout, allow me to say that this does not appear to be meant for me. It doesn't appear to have taken any of the design from that part of the game, except perhaps a little bit of inspiration from Paradise- where the crash mode appeared to be a complete afterthought and only there because the game had "Burnout" in the title.

Was excited when I first saw it blow up, but it looks like the car just bounces around until you explode again, then bounce some more, explode.... boring. With more depth and actual driving, this could be fun.

this game is meant for those that liked the crash segments of Burnout. me personally, those were the least interesting to me.

As someone who liked the crash segments of Burnout, allow me to say that this does not appear to be meant for me. It doesn't appear to have taken any of the design from that part of the game, except perhaps a little bit of inspiration from Paradise- where the crash mode appeared to be a complete afterthought and only there because the game had "Burnout" in the title.

this game is meant for those that liked the crash segments of Burnout. me personally, those were the least interesting to me.

As someone who liked the crash segments of Burnout, allow me to say that this does not appear to be meant for me. It doesn't appear to have taken any of the design from that part of the game, except perhaps a little bit of inspiration from Paradise- where the crash mode appeared to be a complete afterthought and only there because the game had "Burnout" in the title.

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Yeah, I loved the crash segments, and this looks . . . awful. Very disappointing!

As someone who liked the crash segments of Burnout, allow me to say that this does not appear to be meant for me. It doesn't appear to have taken any of the design from that part of the game, except perhaps a little bit of inspiration from Paradise- where the crash mode appeared to be a complete afterthought and only there because the game had "Burnout" in the title.

How is this not the same as the crash segments in Burnout Revenge? The only difference is this is top down and has destructible environments.

You know, when people talk about "taking a franchise in a new direction", this game will be mentioned as a bad example.

Any Burnout game's crashes were impressive because they were realistic, because they made you feel like you're in the thick of it yourself. This one gives a top-down perspective, distancing you from the action, therefore eliminating that realism and replacing it with old-school Grand Theft Auto-style destruction... only that GTA and GTA2 did it better about one and a half decades earlier.

Also, apart from the initial segment where there was a wheel on the screen, I can't say I noticed when the game was actually being played instead of being watched.

You know, when people talk about "taking a franchise in a new direction", this game will be mentioned as a bad example.

Any Burnout game's crashes were impressive because they were realistic, because they made you feel like you're in the thick of it yourself. This one gives a top-down perspective, distancing you from the action, therefore eliminating that realism and replacing it with old-school Grand Theft Auto-style destruction... only that GTA and GTA2 did it better about one and a half decades earlier.

Also, apart from the initial segment where there was a wheel on the screen, I can't say I noticed when the game was actually being played instead of being watched.

I can't believe I'm defending this game because I hated the crash segments of Burnout and I don't like this new game either...

but to say that this new game is such a major departure from the crash segments of Burnout is wrong. There was no sense of "being in the thick of it" with the crash segments. You drive, hit a ramp, enter an intersection, hit the first car, multiple cars hit, you explode your car and carry it and hope you cause more collisions.

the thing I hated about the crash segments in Burnout was the seeming randomness of the process. my best crash segment scores were the ones I did totally by accident. it's not a puzzle you can plan or solve because of the randomness of the cars of the intersection.

There was no sense of "being in the thick of it" with the crash segments. You drive, hit a ramp, enter an intersection, hit the first car, multiple cars hit, you explode your car and carry it and hope you cause more collisions.

What I meant is that, in older Burnout games you get to see the crash from a third-person "bystander" sort of view, which is admittedly more realistic than a top-down "bird's eye" view.

There was no sense of "being in the thick of it" with the crash segments. You drive, hit a ramp, enter an intersection, hit the first car, multiple cars hit, you explode your car and carry it and hope you cause more collisions.

What I meant is that, in older Burnout games you get to see the crash from a third-person "bystander" sort of view, which is admittedly more realistic than a top-down "bird's eye" view.

Ugh any of you guys played the new Hot Pursuit? That Autolog shit is the worst, bloated, and unnecessary feature I've ever seen in a racing game of any caliber. Picking up Hot Pursuit during the Steam sales half the time the server crashes and it WILL NOT let you play your game until it times out 3 TIMES. That's over 3 minutes of just seeing a black screen "connecting to AutoLog servers..." Almost made the game unplayable; if it wasn't for how ridiculous the physics are (hitting a car in the bumper going 50mph with almost no health to watch the car explode) makes me laugh my ass off everytime.

For the love of god though Criterion take that Autolog crap out of your games! Who even cares on Facebook if I got a gold medal in some random race? Only your creepy/annoying uncle that tells you that you should be writing a paper or doing something else more productive in your life.